LATEST THINKING

Obstacles for sustainable asteroid mining

Overview

Materials found in asteroids are highly valued and important for space stations and other orbital missions. These resources can be broken down into one of three categories: Industrial metals, platinum group metals, and volatiles such as water. Not only are these resources highly sought after, but it would deliver a significant cost savings to mine in space rather than on Earth. Research is underway to determine safe and cost-effective ways to extract the valuable materials; and business and government policy development are also in process. Unequivocally, the future of space mining is rich and exciting.